The Holy Family and All Saints, Witham

Introduction

The Holy Family and All Saints, Witham, in the Diocese of Brentwood, occupies the former Anglican Church of All Saints, which opened as the present Catholic church on 1 November 1989.

History

The first public post-Reformation Catholic church in Witham, named The Holy Family, opened in Newland Street on 22 October 1851. The Parish of the Holy Family was canonically erected on 21 August 1918.

Architecture and furnishings

The church has a cruciform plan with nave, north and south aisles, chancel and two transepts. The chancel was originally one bay and was extended by a further bay in the late C19. An early C20 single storey vestry was added to the east wall of the north transept. A late C19 gabled porch was added to the south transept.

Brown of Norwich built the church in 1841 in grey gault brick with stone dressings, knapped flint panels, and a grey slate roof. The nave has six bays of tall lancet windows with drip moulds and head stops, and a three-stage buttress between each window. The west front has a full-height decorative porch with a central doorway flanked by two windows with moulded two-centred arches on attached columns with moulded bases and capitals. The west window has three lights with two-centred arches, drip moulds, and head stops, all surmounted by a gable with a finial.

The aisles culminate in parapet gables with moulded trefoil windows above a bracketted string and tall windows matching the nave. The church has a tall gabled and buttressed bell cote. The north and south gable ends of the transepts have three-light windows with two-centred heads, drip moulds, and head stops, and three-stage flanking buttresses with gabled caps.

Visiting

The church runs a First Holy Communion catechesis programme for children in Year 3 and above. The church offers an RCIA programme for those wishing to be received into the Catholic Church at Easter. The church requires six months' notice for marriage preparation. The church offers the Sacrament of the Sick, with prayers or anointing available by contacting the parish office. The church has full facilities for the disabled, a loop system for hearing aid users, and is registered for Catholic marriages.